Guillermo del Toro's epic valentine to giant monsters run amok horror films

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2013)

PACIFIC RIM (2013) *** Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins, Jr., Ron Perlman, Diego Klattenhoff. Guillermo del Toro's epic valentine to giant monsters run amok horror films is a hybrid of sci-fi including "Godzilla", "Inception" and take your pick of any Ray Harryhausen fantasy with a touch of HP Lovecraft: set in the future Earth finds itself under siege from ginormous alien monsters from an underwater chasm unleashing hellspawns forcing humanity to combat with equally humongous tech savvy robots in a fight to the finish. While its tin-eared dialogue is on par with James Cameron (del Toro collaborating with Travis Beacham), the visual f/x are pretty awesome with its splendidly over-the-top gargantuan bitch slapping over worldwide metropolises and severely major property damage. The behemoth beasties are truly amazing in their looks suggesting Disney's "Night on Bald Mountain" from "FANTASIA" meets the Mos Eisley cantina denizens of "Star Wars".